Mad Catz FightStick Review

A Street Fighter IV fighting stick that packs just enough punch for the price.

By Scott Lowe

Updated: 25 Oct 2011 8:06 am

Posted: 28 Jan 2009 12:04 am

The time is almost upon us, Street Fighter IV will be dropping soon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and with it hours of Shoryuken fun for all the boys and girls. That's right, its time to dust off your old arcade stick and warm up those underutilized, sausage-like appendages you call fingers. If, however, you don't have an old arcade stick or simply have decided that its time for an update, there are a host of products launching with SFIV or shortly thereafter. As far as Capcom-sanctioned licenses are concerned, Mad Catz holds the key to all officially branded controllers and fighting sticks. We've had an opportunity to review two of Mad Catz's official SFIV products already, the FightPad (Review), and the Tournament Edition FightStick (Review). The FightPad is a reasonably priced controller designed specifically for fighting games, while the Tournament Edition FightStick is a full-sized fighting stick for intense, hardcore play. Now, we're taking a look at the Mad Catz FightStick, a compact fighting stick for a $69.99. We were thoroughly impressed with both of its SFIV-branded siblings, but how did the Mad Catz's middle child rack up? Find out below.

Before we begin, let it be known that the FightStick is in no way, shape, or form the Tournament Edition FightStick. Obviously you realize that, but the overlying point is that it isn't intended to be the cheaper, but still high-performance alternative for passionate fighting game players. There is an $80 difference between the Tournament Edition FightStick and the standard FightStick and it shows. For $69.99 you aren't getting genuine Sanwa components or competition travel-ready build materials. You aren't getting bragging rights or a sweet mantelpiece for your gaming accessory collection, you are getting a product designed for mass-market consumption. But don't get the wrong idea, the FightStick has a lot going for it.

Like the FightPad and the Tournament Edition FightStick, the FightStick has officially licensed art. Instead of one character like the FightPad or a stylized logo like the Tournament Edition FightStick, the FightStick's surface panel features a collection of Street Fighter IV's most notable characters, such as Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Chun Li, and E. Honda. While character branding is no strange concept to the Street Fighter franchise, the design used for the FightStick is somewhat unique in that it looks as if it were hand painted. The image has periodic paint splatters and brush strokes and small, intentional imperfections to make it seem more gritty and real. But while the art is damn sexy, we did have a few minor gripes with how it is applied. The FightStick's surface art is not printed directly onto the surface plate but rather on a high-gloss adhesive vinyl. In some portions of the surface art the vinyl bends up slightly and isn't applied as smoothly as we would have liked.

Beyond the somewhat lackluster vinyl application, the build of the FightStick is pretty much on par with what you would expect from a $70 arcade stick. The casing is constructed of a standard white matte plastic, while the bottom plate is a slightly denser and more textured material. The joystick has a glossy, rotating head, while the base is made of metal. The attack buttons are arranged in two rows of four, three white buttons and a black button on the end. Like its larger, more expensive counterpart, the FightStick has a recessed turbo mode interface, lock swtich, and a left stick, D-pad, and right stick toggle switch. For those unfamiliar with the feature, turbo mode allows users to attack their opponents by simply holding down the button rather than tapping it repeatedly. The Turbo mode interface uses a series of LEDs, which identify the attack buttons that the mode is active on. To turn the mode on or off simply hold the Turbo button and tap the desired attack. Also like the Tournament Edition FightStick, the FightStick's start and back buttons (start/select for PS3) on the top side of the body to reduce accidental pausing.

Where the FightStick is vastly different than the Tournament Edition FightStick, however, is in its components. The joystick performs well, but is definitely less fluid than the Tournament Edition FightStick. The FightStick's joystick joint definitely has stiffer corners and moving, for example, from a downward left side position to an upward right side position is a sharp, sudden, upward incline. The buttons have slightly less resistance than the Tournament Edition FightStick but are overall pretty responsive. While the performance of the FightStick is certainly on par for the price point, fighting game purists might find some issue with it.

Ultimately, however, the FightStick's target market are beginning or intermediate fighting game players looking for a solid stick to throw down with some friends on. Those looking for a true performance stick should look into the Tournament Edition FightStick, but for everyone else, the Mad Catz FightStick is more than sufficient.